Belated Free Comic Book Day

The box of comics this month included a handful of the Free Comic Book Day selections. Since ordinarily we wouldn't be getting our hands on these, here's a bit of commentary.

Marvel Adventures Iron Man & Hulk & Spider-Man

Immediately snatched up by the nine-year-old. Cute story, just enough humor, and the Mandarin as villain, looking actually pretty cool instead of all Fu Manchu. Like most of the Marvel Adventures line, you don't need a lot of comic background to follow this one--plus it features three of Marvel's best known heroes, thanks to the movies.


All-Star Superman #1

Not bad. The thirteen-year-old doesn't like Superman so didn't care for it; the nine-year-old hasn't read it yet but it has the sort of art that she tends to like. I thought it was all right, although I don't generally care much for non-standard-continuity stories--but I can see where that would be a plus for this particular selection.


Atomic Robo

The thirteen-year-old dug it. She says, and I quote, "It's the best!" and pronounced it "cute." I thought the book did a pretty good job of introducing characters to folks who are not readers of this book (I'm assuming there's an ongoing featuring this character?) without requiring any further reading. We might be looking for more of this.


The Death-Defying Devil

This one, no one seemed to care for much, in part because the story seems to require more background information than we have. In other words, confusing. Also, not impressed with the fact that it bore a closer resemblance to an advertisement than to a comic. That is not a complaint, by the way--it's a free book, after all--just one of the reasons why I'm not inclined to seek out whatever regular title this character appears in.